With today’s pressing environmental issues, there is certainly no shortage of work that needs to be done. Creating dignified employment to combat environmental issues is important from a sustainable perspective, but supporting green jobs for people who face extreme barriers to employment also reduces desperation, violence and crime.

Environmental Protection

The fall in oil prices has made using virgin plastic cheaper than recycled. As a result brands are switching towards to using virgin plastic in their manufacturing. Thus, the demand for recycled plastic has plummeted, resulting in a dramatic fall to the price that the waste pickers receive for the discarded plastics they collect. This is a tragedy that is affecting millions of the poorest people on our planet, but one that has gone almost completely unnoticed! Creating stable and dignified employment through fair trade recycling is needed now more than ever.

Increasing recycling rates in developing countries should be a priority of addressing climate change. According to recycling expert Dr Mike Biddle, for every ton of virgin plastic that is replaced with recycled plastic, it saves 2-3-tons of Co2. Most developing countries have dismal recycling rates of between 2-8%. Imagine the job creation and Co2 savings that would result if these rates reached double digits.

Financial Success

Having a self sustaining business model is the engine that drives our impact. Originally Plastics For Change was a non-profit, but we re-incorporated as a For Profit to create a revenue generating business that can be highly scalable. To address societies biggest problems we need to create financially sustainable, scalable and systemic solutions.